XpressWest "died" (not really, but we'll see) in June, 3-4 months ago, so I'd take it those involved here would know about its circumstances at this point. My question: is XpressWest a public-private partnership or something? I haven't been able to dig up the specifics of how the "Buy American" regulations apply here.

Reading that, it sounds like the author might be confusing construction and design. It sounds like the hang up is that they would need trains that meet FRA crash requirements, requirements that are unique in the world. No opportunity to use off the shelf proven designs from around the world, be they built here or overseas.

There have been rumors for a couple years now that FRA might change their crash requirements to be more inline with the rest of the world, and that may be what the Chinese were hoping/waiting for.

I believe the FRA has distanced itself from the Texas project to some extent, deciding that it wasn't really under their domain since (like this project here) it is planned as a closed system that doesn't interact with other railroads, and it's contained within a single state (no interstate commerce to be concerned with, per se). Personally, I think it's a mistake to build an entirely closed system, since that makes it harder and more expensive to reach existing downtown stations/sites (which is why this is planned to end in Bloomington) instead of leveraging what exists, though for a demonstration project which would eventually be extended, that may not be as big of a deal.

So as time goes by the more I think that this plan for privately funded HSR isn't legit and won't happen, or I'm just impatient. At the same time though, this "concerned" group doesn't seem to realize that this train would use right-of-way on the median of Highway 52 (or am I missing something?).

There's definitely some disconnect and confusion regarding the zip-rail to private rail transition. Odd that little to one of the coverage seems to explain the fact that there's already a highway in the places these small towns are worried about, which are more disruptive than a few trains would be.

But questions are swirling as to what has happened to the rail group. Visitors to North American High Speed Rail Group's website are instead referred to a website for "Minnesota Corridor." Wendy Meadley, who served as the rail group's chief strategy officer, states on her LinkedIn page that she left the company in October. She also terminated her status as a lobbyist for the rail group on Nov. 2, according to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

Meadley declined a request for comment.

Records show that Meadley purchased the web domain name for Minnesota Corridor — mnhsr.com. Meanwhile, Joseph Wang's LinkedIn page still lists him as chairman and CEO of the North American High Speed Rail Group. Wang could not be reached for comment.

Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said the agency has not heard from the rail group or "anyone on a related topic for a number of months."

Now can this be re-taken by MnDOT who is actually legitimate in their proposal?

And what part of "right-of-way along U.S. 52" does this CCARL group not understand? Using the abandoned-Chicago Great Western right-of-way seems more expensive and not feasible with all the properties that would need to be taken anyway.

I don't know if this has been done before. But, I wonder if we could set up "high speed BRT" between the two cities to illustrate the demand and attract local/state funding or private investors for the rail?

I don't know that a dedicated guideway for shuttle buses would actually help anything here. Most of the route isn't congested. The real benefit of HSR would be traveling at speeds over that of automobiles. The distance is about 75 miles to St. Paul or 90 miles to Minneapolis. You're not going to see buses doing that in under an hour no matter what guideway you build, and I think under an hour (ideally 45 minutes) is really the speed it takes to actually enable commutes and better integrate Rochester into the state economy, rather than just be a novelty that competes with existing car travel.

As the DMC starts to take shape. It just seems like a lost opportunity to not have a more solid connection between the Twin Cities and Rochester. Does anyone know of high speed buses being used? We must have the technology to run buses at 90 mph, but doing that safely I presume will be costly, but cheaper than rail.